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Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man

Disney announced today that it is buying distribution rights to The Avengers and Iron Man 3 from Paramount for $115 million. Paramount will reportedly still earn the 8% and 9% fees it would have received from distributing the films but it won’t have to put in any advertising money or muscle.

The deal is an expensive one but it makes good sense for Disney. The Mouse House spent $4 billion to buy Marvel Entertainment last year. The comic book company owns the rights to such high-profile super heroes as Spider Man, Iron Man and The X-Men.

But most of those film franchises are already at other studios. Sony releases the Spider-Man films. Fox has The X-Men. When Disney first made the purchase it looked like it would either have to exploit less well known heroes (such as Ant Man and Nova) or wait for the franchise rights to expire at other studios.

By making the deal to buy distribution rights to The Avengers and Iron Man 3, the studio brings in-house two of the most important upcoming Marvel films. The Avengers, which is slated to be directed by Joss Whedon, will feature a slew of Marvel characters including Iron Man, Thor and The Incredible Hulk. Disney can now produce its own marketing for any future projects involving Iron Man and more easily incorporate the characters into Disney merchandise and spin-off products.

The move also makes sense for Paramount. A full 92% of Iron Man 2’s $622 million global box office take went to Marvel and Disney anyway. This frees up Paramount executives to work on in-house franchises like Star Trek (a sequel is slotted for 2012) and Mission: Impossible 4 with Tom Cruise and Jeremy Renner which is already filming.

Paramount will still release the Marvel movies Thor and Captain America.

In a press release Paramount head Brad Grey said:

“Five years ago, when Paramount and Marvel made our initial deal, both our businesses were very different places. We are grateful for the partnership we have had with the terrific Marvel team over these years and proud of the work we have done together. Today, this new agreement is the right deal for Paramount, for Marvel and for Disney. We look forward to working together on Thor and Captain America, and we wish Disney and Marvel the utmost success, in what we know will be a very productive and wide-ranging partnership.”